Heavy fighting erupted around the strategic Al-Kayli area in Sudan’s Blue Nile region on Friday as forces aligned with the Sudan Founding Alliance (TASIS) and the Sudanese Armed Forces battled for control of the increasingly active southeastern front.
Reports from the area indicated that the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, were involved in clashes with SAF and allied forces around Al-Kayli, in Kurmuk locality.
Ultra Sudan cited Kurmuk Governor Abdel Ati Mohamed al-Faki as saying TASIS-aligned forces launched an early-morning attack on Al-Kayli, which SAF claimed to have repelled. The governor also claimed several attacking vehicles were destroyed and that TASIS forces suffered casualties. The claims could not be independently verified.
SAF’s Defence Ministry gave a different account of the fighting, saying its forces had carried out a “pre-emptive” operation south of Al-Kayli based on intelligence information.
The ministry claimed nine combat vehicles belonging to the RSF were destroyed and an unspecified number of fighters killed. Those figures also could not be independently verified.
The competing accounts indicate intense military activity around Al-Kayli, which has repeatedly changed hands or come under attack as fighting expands across southern Blue Nile.
The region has become one of the most active fronts in Sudan’s war in recent months, with TASIS-aligned RSF and SPLM-N forces pushing north after consolidating positions around areas close to the Ethiopian border.
The alliance previously took control of Kurmuk and Geissan, while fighting has increasingly moved toward routes leading to Damazin, the administrative capital of Blue Nile.
Ultra Sudan said the TASIS alliance is seeking to expand its presence in the region and disrupt supply routes toward Damazin, while SAF has been reinforcing positions along the southeastern front.
Fighting around Al-Kayli comes amid a wider escalation across Sudan, with both sides attempting to strengthen positions on the Blue Nile and Kordofan fronts.
Neither TASIS nor the RSF had issued a detailed statement on Friday’s Al-Kayli fighting at the time of publication.
